Actor 'dies' five times in 24 hours

Veteran Hong Kong actor Law Lok-lam had an unusual run of bad luck when he set what could be a record by dying in five different soap operas in a 24-hour period last week.

His character met a bloody end during a fight in the martial arts drama Grace Under Fire, and he vomited blood before expiring in Fate to Fate, the Sunday Morning Post reported.

In Relic of an Emissary, Law played the Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who died after an illness.

In two other shows, Police Station No. 7 and comedy Virtues of Harmony, the actor did not die on screen but his death was discussed, the paper said.

Hong Kong actors whose characters die are given a red packet with a token amount of money for good fortune, and Law, 63, received several from the superstitious production crews before shooting his death scenes.

"When I get a job, I don't care if my character in the drama will die. If he is supposed to die, he should go on and die," Law said in a video posted on YouTube by his employer, Hong Kong broadcaster TVB.

However, internet postings about his multiple "deaths" reportedly upset his daughter.

"Why would dying in a drama matter? It's not for real. So my daughter, you shouldn't be unhappy. The most important thing is I've done my job well," Law said.

Some fans criticised TVB on the internet for making him "die" so often in such a short space of time.

A TVB spokesman quoted by the Post said: "It was purely a coincidence that Law died five times."